HYDERABAD: The state government has decided to formulate a new policy on lifting sand from reaches without affecting the environment and in compliance with the orders of the Supreme Court and Union ministry of environment and forest.There are 47 sand reaches in the state at present and the deadline for lifting sand ended on March 31. The state needs about 2 crore cubic metres of sand a year.Mining officials have asked accredited agencies to identify the reaches which have huge sand potential and at the same time not disturb the environment and not cause water and sound pollution if quarried.According to principal secretary (mining) D.Srinivasulu, the agencies would identify such sand reaches and submit a report in 15 days to the Environment Protection Training & Research Institute (EPTRI) for clearance. After the clearance is obtained, auction of sand reaches will be conducted in a transparent manner by district-level committees headed by joint collector in all districts. A separate wing of vigilance teams and technical teams will be set up to check irregularities in sand lifting.Acting on a public interest litigation petition (PIL) filed by Annam Sivaiah and K Koteswara Rao, two farmers from Dharanikota village in Amaravati mandal in Guntur district, the High Court passed an interim order on March 21, staying sand mining and auction of sand reaches.The petitioners alleged a strong contractor-politician-bureaucrat nexus allowing illegal sand mining.The stay came into force on April 1 and despite relentless efforts by the state to get the order vacated, the High Court made it clear that it would not go against the directives of the Supreme Court. Refusing to vacate the High Court's stay on sand mining, the apex court directed the state government to approach the Union ministry of environment and forests (MoEF) to get clearance.On April 20 the High Court had modified its ban order and permitted state-owned AP Mineral Development Corporation to supply sand to certain contractors who have taken up irrigation canal works.The state government pleaded before the Supreme Court on May 7 that it was losing revenue due to ban on sand mining and several welfare schemes had been facing financial crunch.
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